Yogurt Maker Has a New Recipe: Social Business

by Rob Katz, NextBillion.net - Development Through Enterprise - Microfinance on Jul 08, 2008

When it launched a nutrient-rich yoghurt for poor consumers in Bangladesh, Groupe Danone (NYSE:DA) , the French food company, hit an unexpected obstacle. It had trained a large sales and distribution team of women, but only a handful were still working after a week.

The problem, Danone found after talking to a local charity, was that people there did not like women conducting door-to-door sales.

With its partner Grameen, the microfinance institution, Danone decided to talk to community representatives. "We've learned something about managing sales forces of door-to-door saleswomen that are very poor," says Emmanuel Marchant, chief executive of Danone Communities. "It's about understanding the cultural context in which we operate."